Some here have noted that they see is very poor performance from the FSD beta.
I do agree that it is more stressful than driving yourself, or even driving in conjunction with normal Autopilot.
However, that stress factor is implicit in the idea of using a beta version of driving software. It is not a trivial task. I believe it is important to see this as a serious job to aid a serious company that needs expert assistance.
Why should I treat driving what I consider the best vehicle, the most fun vehicle to drive, the vehicle that I paid quite a high price to purchase… Why should I consider that a job?
I see it that way because of how grateful I am that this car exists.
Tesla, and in particular, Musk, are investing incredible trust in its army of beta testers. They know very well that they are trading on the skills and patience and inconvenience of all these testers. It is mostly not fun from a practical point of view, but intensely interesting from the point of view of observing the progress that is happening in the whole Tesla vision.
When I look at it that way, I do not see a five year horizon, or even a two year horizon. I see unbelievable intelligence in the FSD software as it exists today.
No, I am not oblivious to its mistakes. Compared to any human driver, it is in its infancy. However what it can do now completely amazes me, often times performing many times better than human drivers do in important driving scenarios.
When my kids were in their early years, say before five, I had the same kind of awe at how they would suddenly progress with new abilities they hadn’t had only weeks before.
When this FSD matures people will forget its early years. They will take it for granted when it demonstrates superhuman driving ability. This is not far in the future. Exponential advance in technology is rarely visible as it happens.
I don’t expect everyone to look at it this way. If you love your car and you love driving it, that’s what you should do.
Ha ha, it’s only for nerds like me to spend their time marvelling at just exactly how much mechanical /electronic things can behave so much like humans, not at how much they can’t.